My incredibly fluffy financial goals and why I want to buy time

In my last post I put out my reasons for not tracking finances and the rules I follow instead. As I said at the end of that I realised that I should explain what effect that was having. I’m nothing if not a man of my word [Ed: “So you’re nothing then”. Caveman: “Rude. Anyway you’re talking to yourself. You know that there’s no editor right?’” Ed: “Yes. Yes I do, now get back to the post”]. So here it is.

But not just yet.

To understand why I’m shooting for the numbers I’m trying to achieve the place to start is at what my goals are. And, as I say in my About section, my goal is essentially to be happier. Money matters are just one part of that journey. In fact if I find a path that makes me happy but doesn’t lead to FIRE I’ll take it in a flash.

The old saw about money not making you happy seems appropriate here, but I think it’s also true to say that the lack of money can make you unhappy. Not being to pay bills, seeing debt mounting up, worrying about the impact of reorganisation at work all leads to stress and unhappiness. Money and savings can take that away. It’s further safe to say that if my only choice was between being poor and miserable, or financially secure and miserable I know which one I would go for.

What do I demand money gives me?

So I’m not looking for money to make me happy. It can’t. But I have three other goals that I want money to deliver. I want it to:

• Remove Fear;
• Give me Courage; and
• Buy me Time.

You’ll notice that those things are emotional and somewhat intangible – the only one you can empirically measure is time. I’m unapologetic about that. That’s what I want. If money can’t do those things for me then it’s not doing its job.

Let’s take the fear point first. I’m a total scaredy cat. I’m scared of losing my job, I’m scared I’ll have an accident and not be able to work,I’m scared I won’t be able to provide food and clothing for my family, I’m scared that I’ll lose my house if I can’t keep up with the mortgage. We may well be conditioned to be scared, but I would rather not be scared thanks.  The way I see it, if I can build a buffer, that means I can start to say “well, even if the worst happens, then I’m still going to have a home. My family will be fed and clothed. We’ll survive.” Money can explicitly make redundant those fears that I have.

Having taken away my fear I’m looking for money to give me courage. I know it sound like the same thing but it’s not. Taking away fear leaves you in a neutral place, courage propels you forward. I want the courage to take risks as I know that I have a safety cushion to land on should I fail.

Macbeth: If we should fail?

Lady Macbeth: We fail. But screw your courage to the sticking place and we’ll not fail

That’s from the bit in Macbeth just before Macbeth irrevocably commits himself to the actions that lead him to both triumph and disaster.  I love that quote (ignoring the fact of quite how badly wrong it ultimately went for Mr and Mrs Macbeth). I want that sort of courage to be OK with failure.

The sorts of risks I am thinking of are about starting a blog(!), starting a side hustle.  Being more myself in the office and properly offering an opinion without worrying damaging my career. Or, asking to go part-time and not worry about being seen to not be committed. Or to move to a lower paying job that I would find more rewarding. Or to quit work altogether. Which leads me to time.

I’m looking for money to buy me time. I want to use money to buy me time in the long and the short term.

The long term part of that shouldn’t be controversial in this community. That’s the holy grail of FIRE. To have choices about how we spend our time. To not have to work for money. To have the freedom to pursue what fills our souls [Ed; “that’s a bit flowery isn’t it?” Caveman: “Are you still here?”].

I’m totally down for that. I have a list a mile long of things that I’m currently doing at 25% that I would love to be doing at 100%. The biggest thing stopping me is time (and inherent laziness – but let’s blame it on lack of time shall we?). If money can allow me to work less (or not at all) then I want me some of that goodness.

On buying time in the short term

So here is where I’m going to lose some of you. I want money so that I can use it buy time not only in the long term, but in the short term.

The saying that you can’t buy time is plain false. You CAN buy time, and we all do it every day. When you buy a washing machine you’re buying the time you would otherwise spend at the laundrette or washing by hand. When you take an Uber you’re buying the time it would take to walk or take public transport. When you get a cleaner, or a gardener or a handyman you are buying the time it would take to do those tasks. When you buy lunch at work you’re paying the premium, in part, to buy back the time it would take for you to make it yourself.

Now to wander down a rabbit hole for a moment, I suspect that idea of buying short term time doesn’t sit completely comfortably with everyone. Isn’t the whole point of FIRE to buy time by cutting back on spendy behaviour so that you can Retire Early? My reading of the argument for how you buy time in the FIRE community is:

Lower expenses -> Needing a smaller stash -> To being able to save that stash more quickly -> to get rid of the requirement to work for money ->  FIRE

Source: Pretty much everyone, not least this guy

Beast it at work and build your side hustles for the first 10-15-20 years of your career and then kick back to enjoy the fruits of that. It’s all about making changes now to be able to buy time in the future. Spending more money or lowering your income in the full knowledge that it will delay your FI date will be anathema to some.

I would definitely agree with all of that and as I say above, buying long term time is my goal. But I want a balance. I want to enjoy to enjoy life now. I’m greedy. I want to be happy every second of every minute of every day of my life. If spending some money now will give me the time to help me to do that then I’ll do that

But I’m not the weirdo here, we all do it. [Ed: “Actually you ARE the weirdo here.” Caveman: “Do we have to do this now?”] Let me put it this way,I suspect very few people would have an issue with someone who is shooting for FIRE buying a washing machine. A lot of people might have an issue with that person hiring a full-time housemaid (I was trying to think of a gender neutral term for that but I couldn’t. House servant sounds wrong. House elf? Is there one? If there isn’t, what does that say about society?). But at that point we’re arguing about how much you should spend to reduce the time you spend on your laundry, not whether you should be considering buying that time in the first place.

</end rabbit hole>

Now you might besaying. “Caveman, you’re splitting hairs [or hares? No, just methen] here”. No-one thinks of a washing machine as buying time. It’sjust what you do if you want clean clothes.”

And that my friends is where intentionality comes in. Just because we haven’t worked out that what we’re doing when we buy a washing machine is buying time doesn’t make it any less true. But, when you realise that what you are doing with that washing machine is buying time, it opens your eyes to look for other opportunities when you can make the choice to buy time. In what situation would you trade money for time?

I want time now, I don’t want to pin all my hopes on happiness in the future. I want a better life now.

Where are the numbers Caveman?

I wanted to set out what I was trying to achieve with that money to help me test my own logic as much as anything and I hope I’ve done that. What I want from money is for it, to remove fear, to give me courage, and to buy me time both now and in the future.

Now next time I am absolutely going to share my numbers. I’m also going to explain why I have a precise FI plan but I am completely clueless as to what my FI date is and why I’m fine with that. What I also plan to share with you is my own patented stages of FI model and explain how it links to my goal above [Ed: “It’s not patented.” Caveman: “You can go now”]. The way I see it, you’ve been so patient, it’s the least I could do.

Thoughts?

Am I underplaying the link between money and happiness?

What you do you think about my idea of buying time in the short term? Am I missing the whole point of FIRE?

Am I being completely unrealistic about what money is capable of delivering?

Are there just too many pictures of animals in this post?

I’d love to hear your views